For the 12th year in a row, the week before Memorial Day has been designated as National Healthy and Safe Swimming Week. This week is dedicated to focusing on simple steps swimmers can take to help ensure a healthy and safe swimming experience. While most people know they can get sick from eating or drinking contaminated [...]
Yesterday, we hosted our Arizona Zika Action Plan Summit in Phoenix. Nearly 350 partners from across Arizona – public and environmental health departments, healthcare providers and organizations, key state and local agencies, elected officials, public health colleagues from the Ministry of Health in Sonora, and many, many other critical prevention and response partners – attended [...]
Arizona laboratories are required to report certain infectious disease test results to public health so that our state and local disease investigators can prevent and control further spread of disease. Many labs do this by faxing or mailing paper to ADHS. Our informatics staff in the Office of Infectious Disease Services are transitioning these labs [...]
Nearly 150 people participated in the Arizona Nutrition Network's two-day annual contractors meeting held earlier this month in Phoenix. The event featured national and local speakers on implementing policy, systems, and environmental change strategies to improve healthy eating and active living opportunities in Arizona. The meeting highlighted the synergy and collaborative efforts between the Arizona [...]
The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) and International Lactation Consultant Association have recognized our department for excellence in lactation care. We received the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) Care Award in recognition for our staff that hold the prestigious IBCLC, and for providing lactation programs for breastfeeding families. Our department was recognized [...]
According to new surveillance data from the CDC, almost 20,000 deaths in 2014 were associated with hepatitis C and an increasing number of Americans are developing and dying from liver cancer, which can be caused by hepatitis. A second recently published CDC study shows that hepatitis C related deaths in 2013 surpassed the total combined [...]
I'm excited to announce we have a new logo for our department! Developing our new logo was an extensive process where we looked at several options that would best embody what we do for our community. We wanted a logo that would represent our staff, our work, and our role in improving the health and [...]
In the last two years, the tick-borne disease Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis (R. parkeri) has been identified in two Arizona residents. Both were bitten by ticks in the mountainous regions of Southern Arizona. Only 40 cases of R. parkeri have been reported in the United States since the disease was first recognized in 2004. The tick responsible for the Arizona cases [...]
It’s starting to get hot in Arizona, and that means people are heading into the water. Swimming is a great way to put a little play into your day during the summer. However, it is important to be aware that recreational water illnesses can occur even in water that appears to be clean . To increase kids’ awareness [...]
Our department receives funding from the CDC for the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant to fund several of our prevention efforts in Arizona, such as the program to reduce the number of prescription drug overdoses and deaths in the state. The block grant has provided strong support to states since the 1980s. In addition to [...]
